Portable computing devices and displays are ubiquitous in modern life. For example, tablet type computing devices are used as information kiosks at point-of-sale locations, allowing consumers to select and view information regarding one or more on-sale products. Electronic displays, including tablet computers, are also increasingly being used in medical settings such as hospitals and doctors' offices, for example, to display patient information or to display information received from patient monitoring devices.
Such devices and displays, however, are inherently portable, and therefore subject to being taken or moved by unauthorized persons. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a lockable system for retaining such devices during use that do not interfere with the device performing its display function.
Portable computing devices and displays come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. Typically, they are rectangular, with a relatively narrow thickness. For example, some portable computing devices include a keyboard portion that is configured to be operable as a laptop mode with the display portion extending from a back side of the keyboard portion, or in a tablet mode with the keyboard moved to a position directly behind the display portion. Other portable computing devices are simply tablet computers. In other systems a flat display may be removably connected, or tethered with a data cable, to a computing or patient monitoring device. Whatever the system arrangement, it may be beneficial to provide a lockable retaining support that holds at least the display portion of the system in a convenient manner to permit a user to view and possibly interact with the display portion, while also lockably restraining the display.
In many applications, for example, in medical facilities, it would be useful to have a display retaining and supporting system that can support and retain different display devices, wherein the different devices have a variety of sizes and shapes. Therefore a lockable retaining device that can be readily adjusted by a user to accommodate different display devices, while also being lockable in any selected size, would be beneficial. In particular, it would be beneficial to facilitate a user in adjusting the lockable retaining device to accommodate the different display devices.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,274,564, to Rossini, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, a locking cradle for tablet computers is disclosed. However, Rossini does not disclose a mechanism that is adjustable in different transverse directions and wherein a single locking mechanism would enable securing and releasing the tablet computer from the support. Rossini also does not contemplate a system to facilitate setting retaining elements to accommodate different sizes of devices.